Continuing-ed Newsletter

 Are You Living an Alice in Wonderland Life?

Poor Alice! There she was – bored, restless, directionless. Then something caught her eyes – the pink-eyed rabbit. And so, the adventure began!

Like most of us today, Alice was merely living her ordinary life. Lacking direction and motivation what caught her eyes is what she decided to pursue.

Without clear direction and purpose, Alice went chasing the next thing that seemed interesting only to find herself in a strange situation that causes her to fall down the rabbit hole confused and disoriented.

Here you are in today’s distracted, media screeching environment with all sorts of shiny objects rapidly flashing by tempting you start the chase down the rabbit hole of todays ADHD culture.

But where does the chase lead? The tale becomes whimsical absurdity where Alice meets all sorts of strange characters who say nonsensical things. For a brief time, she is entertained. Even the strange characters challenge her on what it all means, with nothing of real consequence being expressed.

How is this like your life, especially at work? Or, in your personal life? Things just seem to be drifting. One day doesn’t seem much different than another. Then something catches your attention for a little bit, but your enthusiasm wanes after a short while.

How often do you find yourself chasing after the next thing that comes into your gaze, entertain it for a little bit, and then wake up to the reality of little forward movement towards anything that is sustainably motivating and moving you forward to achieving your dreams? Or, have you even given up dreaming?

Amazingly more than 70% of American workers are disengaged from their jobs and organization. They might be physically showing up to the job, but mentally/motivationally they are absent. In my training sessions and my initial coaching conversations the majority of my clients talk about how absurd and meaningless their work lives have become.

When I ask them how they chose the work they are doing, most report they had merely fallen into it. Alternatively, they may respond that they have become disenchanted for a multitude of reasons.

How Sad! Since you spend more than a third of your life working, wouldn’t it be better to live it with purpose and passion? Somewhere deep inside there is a potential spark waiting to catch fire. But how?

The answer is quite simple, but hard. It starts with discovering what your purpose on this planet is for. The hard part is going through the discovery process of peeling back the onion of what’s most ultimately important for you. It requires moving beyond the reactive/responsive pattern to life that most people endure trying to alleviate their current problems and focusing on creating a life that matters. Are you willing to do the deep inner work to get the clarity you need for keeping true to your purpose?

 Quotable Quotes:

"Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is meaningless without it."  Stephen Hawking

"To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity" Friedrich Nietzche

"True happiness...is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." Helen Keller

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